Move Right to Learn Right
The Program
MRLR gives young brains and bodies a second chance to get ready for school based learning.
The 45 minute program has three main components.
Beginning
The 5 Minute Switch On. This routine makes sure that the body and brain are working at their best. These activities can easily be used in your everyday lives at work, home or school. There will be information sheets to take home from many of the classes.
Middle
Gross motor and heavy work. The gross motor activities focus on patterns of movement that all young children should us in the first year of life. The movements form the foundation for all other more complex movements including for example speech, reading, catching, skipping, writing. Heavy work gives strong feedback to the brain and muscles about body position. Heavy work helps to set the body engine so that it's running not so fast and slow but just right. The children start becoming aware of how each activity makes their body feel.
End
A peace keeping activity. This activity might be a meditation, a yoga posture or a breathing. Peace keeping activities help the body to be in neutral, it is in this state that a body can function best and look after itself more effectively. This is which is why yoga, meditation, tai chi, timeout for self are so good for wellbeing and improve your immune system, self esteem, confidence and resilience.
Movement and Learning
Movement is shared by all beings starting with the rotation of the earth, the pull of the moon, the feel of the wind on our bodies and the gentle rocking a tiny embryo experiences in as mum moves around. Movement is involved in all our senses. Ears detect sound waves, eyes detect movement, we have receptors in our skins to feel touch, our system of balance is activated by movement of our head. Even our adult language reflects movement eg a baby quickens, we are cut to the quick, we feel deeply and the word emotion comes from the word emovere which is to move.
A child's first experience of the world is through movement and in the first year of life the baby learns all about gaining control of his or her body, where the body bits are and how to work them ie babies learning from the inside out. (from Children Learn From The Inside Out by Shirley Randolph and Margot Heiniger)
As you know toddlers are still at a stage where they learn and explore their world through physical movement, experiences and sensations, they are very busy exploring their world working out what they can climb and how they can climb it, how the cupboard doors open, how they can use different objects. This exploratory, discovery style of learning continues and is how kids learn best until 6,7 or 8. Even as adults we anchor learning with movement eg writing, clicking a pen, tapping fingers, twirling hair or chewing gum, pens, finger nails, I wonder what you do to help you concentrate?
By age 7 or 8 the young body should be running itself, that is the child doesn't have to concentrate on holding its head up or how tight to grip a pencil as these movement programs run automatically behind the scenes. It is only now that the brain can focus on more complex tasks like writing a story, understanding the rules or the tricky skillful moves in sports, or reading and understanding a book). In other words this child is ready to focus on academic based learning.
As humans we develop to a master timeline and every learning must be practised, tested, reinforced and integrated. If a stage was missed or not practised enough due to illness, stress, poor nutrition or lack of opportunity the MRLR group or individual program is a great opportunity to have another go at making strong foundations for school based learning.
Benefits
Most children will be at this program because they are having trouble learning at school. Some will have many areas of need and others just one or two. As parents it's important that you notice where the child is at now so that at the end of term you will be able to reflect and notice changes in your child's performance, behaviour and attitude at school and in relation to the program. Children who have fewer learning problems benefit faster whereas the real strugglers have to work harder and for longer, they're in it for the long haul.
Click here for parent information.